Boating has become a tremendously popular sport and more and more individuals have purchased larger and more expensive marine vessels. These expensive vessels have a motor and transmission engaging an out drive, which extends from the rear of the boat, to which the propeller is affixed which in turn drives the boat. The out drive is generally bolted to the transmission through the rear of the vessel. This allows for removal of the out drives for service or maintenance and a relative ease of removal for theft. When vessels are in storage, it is quite easy to steal the out drive by removing the attachment bolts with common tools. Thefts of out drives while the vessels have been docked have also occurred. Thefts of components can be extremely costly, in the tens of thousands of dollars.
In addition, thieves have removed motors and other drive components, with common tools, from vessels that can relatively easily be resold in this country or foreign countries. Other prior art devices do exist, but these are of poor quality materials and can be and have been defeated rather easily resulting in equipment losses. Prior art devices also corrode and can fail from corrosion.
Consequently, there is a need for a device that will exponentially increase the difficulty of unauthorized removal of components from a vessel. Ideally, this device will be relatively inexpensive, relatively easy to manufacture, not affected by salt or fresh water exposure yet allow authorized service and maintenance personnel to service the components with the proper tools.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an Anti-theft Bolt Guard.